E-Bodies.org Cuda Challenger Forum

Well, I figure it's finally time to create my thread to document the process.  I'll start by introducing the car, how I acquired it, and how I came to know it's history.    Then I'll document it's current state and  show the evidence to validate what it is.   

Back in 2003 I was in my junior year at the United States Air Force Academy.   USAA provides cadets with a zero interest cash "career starter loan" to cadets who have entered their junior year and as such, have made a commitment to serving in the Air Force in some way. --The first 2 years are "commitment free" meaning that you can decide that the military is not for you and you can drop out and go home, owing nothing to the government.   Once you begin your junior year, you are at that point committed; you will either finish your degree and serve as an officer, or you will drop out and serve your commitment as an enlisted.   Anyway, the loan was zero interest until graduation, then once commissioned, it began earning 1%APR and auto-payments to pay it back. 

Anyway, I used my cash loan to purchase this red 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Gran Coupe, a 383 2bbl automatic car.   It was at a "dealership" in Columbus Oh that only sold antique vehicles, so I had my dad go check it out and make sure it was worth what they were asking.   

He missed a few things and a few other things popped up once I started putting some miles on the car.   I ended up doing a complete brake job on all 4 corners, new tires, new electronic ignition system, re-wired the dash, tail lights, and headlights with new reproduction wire harnesses, new wheel bearings....all kinds of stuff.

I did all this during my 3 week summer vacation before my Senior year.   Almost got it finished before I had to return to Colorado Springs.

So, my dad wrapped up a few things, had new exhaust pipes hung so you could drive it without getting carbon monoxide poisoning from all the fumes coming up out of the rusty pipes; and he then drove it the 20 hour drive out to Colorado for me and flew home.

The cuda was my "daily driver" for that senior year, where I left it parked outside in the cadet parking lots, drove it in rain, snow, etc.   

After graduation, I bought a V6 Dakota for a daily driver and the cuda became a weekend toy.

Here's a few pics of the car when it was in Colorado, taken with a fancy disposable cardboard camera.

(More to come later...time to go pick up the kids from swim practice!)

Sweet!  Looks like an awesome car so far!  I'm in for the story and build.   :popcorn: :pixiepop:

 :popcorn:

Nice over the hood shot. :yes:

Quote from: Marty on September 14, 2021, 07:12:45 PM
Nice over the hood shot. :yes:

Thanks!   That's driving up the hill to the cadet area at the air force academy

Fast forward a few years, around 2006 while stationed at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana; the engine started running really rough.   I had burnt 3 exhaust valves when the brake booster blew out the diaphragm and leaned out half the manifold.    By this time, I knew I had multiple rust issues that needed fixed: trunk floor, quarter panels, and I knew the cowl had rust because my feet would get wet when it rained.  So I began the process of tearing it down to fix those issues.   

Started with the trunk floor and did a piss poor job at it.   At that time, the only thing available were the 2-piece units and they fit like garbage.   I didn't yet know very many tricks to get them to fit better and figured I'd learn as I went, hoping that by the time I got to the exterior stuff, I'd have enough skill to make it look half way decent.    Needless to say, the trunk floor is on my list to Re-do now that there are better panels, and I have better skill.   (Or, I send it to the AMD installation center and let the experts do what they do best.  I've been in communication with them over the last few days trying to put together an accurate quote/estimate)

A little more about the car:
I then had learned what a build sheet was, what a Fender tag was, and was disappointed that I had neither.   I had seen instances of Vitamin C orange under the red, so I figured my car was originally an orange car that a Chevy guy painted red (Engine bay was black).  There were pieces of interior that were blue painted black and I figured that with those pieces, combined with the mess of wires from under the dash, that there had been a dash fire at some point, and they replaced it with junk yard parts painted black to match the rest of the interior.   The engine had an AC compressor on it acting as an idler pulley and there were holes in the firewall for the AC lines, along with the controls in the dash that indicated AC--so I figured the car originally had AC.  Beyond that, I really had no clue what other options it would have had.  The engine and transmission were also not original to the car. 

I knew at that point that there wasn't much reason to attempt an "all original back to stock" type restoration because without the build sheet/fender tag there was no way to validate anything, and I had plans to paint it back to orange since I liked that color better, and then modify some things to make it more fun to drive.

During my assignment to Barksdale, I was in the BX one evening and scanning through an issue of Mopar Collectors Guide when I noticed a classified ad for someone looking for their original engine block, and what struck me was that his VIN was identical to mine down to the last digit of the sequence number.  his car was 6 or 7 away from mine.   I bought that issue figuring I should call the number in the ad and chat with him to see what options his car had, figuring mine would have been similar.   

But I never called him.

Later, I sent my VIN to Barry Washington up in Alaska hoping that maybe he had collected my build sheet or fender tag at some point, since he was building the Hamtrack registry and people were sending him extra build sheets that they found in their cars, fender tags, things of that nature.   When he got back to me he said "I don't have anything on your car, but I do have information from a gentleman in Kentucky with a VIN nearly identical to yours.   His car is a documented St. Louis Blues Cuda, and yours might be one as well since it's so close to his.  They were a very rare V02 paint code, indicating a 2-tone paint job: a blue roof, blue interior, and a white body.  You should look for evidence of blue or white paint"   

Here's the crazier part... It was the same exact VIN as the one from the MCG classified ad that I bought a year prior! 

That's when it all clicked.    What I thought was primer on the rear package tray, under the orange paint in the engine bay, etc. wasn't primer, it was white paint!    The blue parts on the interior that were painted black were not junkyard replacements but originals to the car.  To confirm, I went out and started wet sanding on the quarter panel and burned through the red to reveal white paint.  The only thing I didn't see was blue paint anywhere.    I did however, notice filler in the trim holes on the quarter panel from the vinyl top trim that was used to separate the 2 colors.

During the disassembly process when I removed the trim from the roof drip rails is when I found it.   The masking line from where the factory painted the roof blue after painting the body white. 

At this point, I dug out the MCG issue that I kept, and called the number in the ad.   "This is going to sound strange, but I'm calling about the ad you put in MCG awhile back..."

We talked for awhile, he took down my VIN and looked through his records.  He had contacted the dealership in St. Louis and learned that the records from sales were trashed just a few years prior, but he did say that he had information from the title agency who handled the title work and that my VIN had gone through the same agency.

He sent me a copy of his fender tag for me to use as a reference since my car very likely had the same exact options as his.  I've toyed with the idea of making a copy but with my VIN, but then again, I wouldn't want to be accused of passing off a fake.   So, until my lost fender tag magically appears...   


Here's a couple pics showing the paint colors discovered during disassembly, as well as the rust that was discovered in the quarters....or should I say--the 2" thick chunk of bondo that fell off during trunk floor/extension removal. I still have that chunk somewhere in the garage after all the moves.

After replacing the trunk floor, I went through the rear suspension.  Ordered a new center section from Cass aka Dr. Diff.   Replaced the 741 case that has a 2.76:1 open diff gear set in it with a 489 case, 3.91 gears, and a sure grip.   I replaced the rear springs as well.   

Then, it was time to move.   2007 the active duty Air Force went through a reduction of the officer ranks.  Moved back to Ohio, found a slot in the part-time reserves and continued to serve in that capacity. 

In 2008 I took a position with GE as a 3rd shift production supervisor, and we moved again due to the job location.  During the market crash of 08--4 months after we moved to take the new job...I was laid off.   Luckily found a position within a month at a new company but had to move to 2nd shift.   Between working 2nd shift and traveling 3 hours to Pittsburgh for drill weekends...and being the squadron ops officer, I often would go to the primary and the secondary drill weekends in the same month...I never saw the family.    And at this point, we had 2 pre-school aged children that my wife was taking care of on her own.   After my deployment to Afghanistan, I chose to come home and be a stay-at-home parent until the kids went to school. 

Surprisingly, the loss of my income didn't affect us too much.   We saved over $1000 a month in child care, I was not driving 45 minutes to work every day, we ate out much less because we had time to cook dinner, and our tax bracket was lowered so the wife kept more of her income.    However, extra spending cash was less abundant, so during this period of time, all I really got done was replacing the driver side quarter panel and removed the left.

to save money at the cost of time, I made a bunch of patches to weld in and replace the outter wheel house, patched a thin spot in the rocker under the quarter.    Decided that really sucked to do, and that I would just buy full panels when they were available.

Here's a couple pics of that process:

Still not great, but much better than the trunk floor experience.   I figure it's at least as good as factory, good enough to use some seam sealer and filler during block sanding... :haha:

Kids went to school and in 2014 I went back to work.   This time, I figured I should save up and pay someone else to do the body work because I just wasn't that great at it...and I didn't really enjoy it.   I'd much rather build engines, suspensions, build brake kits, etc.   Plus, with the new job taking up so much time, I didn't have time to work on the car anyway.   

In 2015, I about had enough money saved up to start shopping around for someone to do the rest of the panel replacement work.  And decided that working 6 and 7 days a week was not a good long term solution for me.   My employer at the time showed no signs of decreasing their demands of hours worked in a week, so I quit.   

Went on a few interviews for engineering roles, and was told that my BS degree from USAFA (which included course work in Mechanical engineering, Civil engineering, Aeronautical engineering, Electrical engineering, Astro engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, etc) was not adequate to call myself an engineer because my major was "Pre-law"   So...having earned additional VA benefits from my deployment to asscrackistan, I  went back to school for a 2nd bachelors degree.    This time at THE Ohio State University to study Welding Engineering.  (A blend of Mechanical, Electrical, Materials engineering with a healthy dose of metallurgy/chemistry)   Again, between paying half of my tuition out of pocket while on 1 income, money was tight.  During studying, time was short.    Oh, and by the way, right in the middle of all this....we decided to buy a vacant property down the road, sell our house, put everything into storage, rent an apartment, and build a new house.    Again...the Cuda was put on moth balls.

Graduated in May 2020, and now work for a company making air tanks for commercial truck industry.   Built a pole barn for tractor/attachments, and general storage, and cleared out the garage to put a focus back on the Cuda.    Just bought a couple thousand dollars of replacement panels from AMD.  Picked them up at the Mopar Nats in August, and am now back at it.    I'm going to fully disassemble the car this time instead of trying to just work on one little area at a time.   Gonna get the car media blasted, and start at the firewall and work back -- with the goal of building a solid foundation for a car that I plan to drive the snot out of.    (And as mentioned previously, I may just send the car to AMD and let them hang their panels on the car using much better equipment and experience.

more pics.

I have a lot more still, but mostly to document all the evidence of the car having a blue interior, blue roof, and white body.  I'll post a few of them later...they're not accessible yet.

Side note:

how does one stop certain photos from posting upside down?   when viewed on the computer screen prior to uploading, they are correct.  Once they are uploaded and posted, they invert.

Why, and how do I prevent that?

Quote from: Filthy Filbert on September 15, 2021, 07:26:37 AM
Side note:

how does one stop certain photos from posting upside down?   when viewed on the computer screen prior to uploading, they are correct.  Once they are uploaded and posted, they invert.

Why, and how do I prevent that?

What I do is when they are on your computer, just crop them a little bit, then save them, and post...seems to work for me  :dunno:

Fascinating story FF ... and exceptionally well written I might ad!  :clapping:

Being here in St Louis, I've heard some about the "Blues Special" cars sold through the Glendale Chrysler dealership (which surprisingly is still in business). From what I understand, most of them were 318 cars with only a handful of them being 383 cars (like yours). Looks like you have yourself a relatively rare piece of history. Hopefully some documentation for it will surface for you at some point.

Thanks for the great post!!

BTW, do we call you "Filthy" or "Filbert"??

The Blues Cudas were actually sold at all 9 local St. Louis C-P dealers. Glendale is the last one remaining in business.

Quote from: RzeroB on September 15, 2021, 01:00:37 PM
BTW, do we call you "Filthy" or "Filbert"??

haha.   Most folks call me Tom.   The "Filthy Filbert" moniker came from the Dakota RT guys.   We were at the national Dakota show, chilling in the parking lot at the hotel drinking beers and bench racing, talking about mods we've done, want to do, etc.    One of the other guys looked at the brakes on my Dakota and said "Damn Filbert, those brakes are Filthy"   another dude said "Filbert's Filthy Brakes"  which evolved into "Filthy Filbert"   :dunno:

Now I have an LLC that I've set up to sell the brake kits under.   So far only offer  97-04 Dakota kits; but may try to come up with something for older Mopars.  I'll definitely make a kit for myself, but between wilwood and Dr. Diff, the market is pretty well covered in terms of 'big brake kits'



Over on Moparts I went by "70Cuda383" and almost used it here for recognition from any overlapping members, but decided to go with something that's more in alignment with my actual name. 

Quote from: Filthy Filbert on September 15, 2021, 01:28:43 PM

Quote from: RzeroB on September 15, 2021, 01:00:37 PM
BTW, do we call you "Filthy" or "Filbert"??

haha.   Most folks call me Tom.   The "Filthy Filbert" moniker came from the Dakota RT guys.   We were at the national Dakota show, chilling in the parking lot at the hotel drinking beers and bench racing, talking about mods we've done, want to do, etc.    One of the other guys looked at the brakes on my Dakota and said "Damn Filbert, those brakes are Filthy"   another dude said "Filbert's Filthy Brakes"  which evolved into "Filthy Filbert"   :dunno:

Now I have an LLC that I've set up to sell the brake kits under.   So far only offer  97-04 Dakota kits; but may try to come up with something for older Mopars.  I'll definitely make a kit for myself, but between wilwood and Dr. Diff, the market is pretty well covered in terms of 'big brake kits'



Over on Moparts I went by "70Cuda383" and almost used it here for recognition from any overlapping members, but decided to go with something that's more in alignment with my actual name.

@Filthy Filbert (https://forum.e-bodies.org/mlist/filthy-filbert_12805) There used to be a guy on Moparts from Ohio that had a red 383 Cuda similar to yours that went by "Red383".  Different guy?

Quote from: anlauto on September 24, 2021, 08:00:12 AM
Whoever painted it orange really took the car apart, having the drip rail weather-strip channels off etc... that's rare to see on an older repaint job like that. :thinking:

Yea, that's why for the longest time I thought it was originally an orange car. 

Pretty much fully disassembled now, well, except for the suspension, which I plan to pull off once I get some steel tubing and casters to make legs for it so I can continue to move the car around as needed.


Pulled the "patch panels" that were screwed in place over the holes in the front floor pan.   They started by cutting out the rust, but then water got in between the patches and what was left of the original floor, rusting it out even further.     Not a big deal, I plan to replace the whole floor anyway.  At least the frame rails are solid despite the surface rust and dirt on them.

Not much in the way of progress.   But a large order of AMD stuff came in thanks to Roseville Moparts. 

Drove 6 hour round trip Saturday to go pick it up.  $70 in diesel fuel vs $250 freight bill. 

Full trunk floor
Full front floor pan
Tail light panel
Inner fender pair
Radiator core support
A few inner fender to firewall brackets


Previously acquired metal includes firewall and upper cowl, a-pillars, roof skin, passenger side quarter, outer wheel house, trunk gutter and trunk extension, rear foot wells, trunk floor braces, etc. 

Still need to order: passenger b pillar and sail panel brace extension, remaining firewall/inner fender brackets, spare tire and jack hold downs... that's about it as far as I can tell. But the AMD install center had a ton more on their 'parts needed list' before they would schedule it for work, so not sure where we're at with them.   Need to call him back again. 


Also arrived last week, headliner and console from SE Headliners. 

Let's go Blues!

Are you sure you do not want to dip this car before doing all of the panel replacements?
There are a lot of hidden areas and some that you have exposed that are very rusty.
I hate to see you put on the new AMD sheetmetal only to have future rust issues.

Quote from: MoparCarGuy on December 13, 2021, 06:41:40 PM
Are you sure you do not want to dip this car before doing all of the panel replacements?
There are a lot of hidden areas and some that you have exposed that are very rusty.
I hate to see you put on the new AMD sheetmetal only to have future rust issues.

Nope, not going to dip the car...

But, I am on the schedule finally with the AMD installation center.  The car will go to them, get media blasted and have them install all the panels using proper spot welding equipment and jigs and racks so that everything will be as good or better than it left the factory. 

Now I just gotta wait.   and wait.  and wait.   September 2022 is soooo far away!!    --but, I can pull the suspension, rebuild it, fabricate my brakes, I can tear the dash apart and rebuild it, etc. while I wait for my spot at the body shop

I have to ask, especially since you mentioned earlier that it was "expensive".  How much?  How many panels?
I've considered this path but have little pricing to find anywhere on the net. 

I don't really know how much.   

They built a quote that included replacing everything "from the waist down"  front and rear frame rails, torsion bar cross member, rocker panels, all floor and under-seat pans, shock mount cross member, etc.    So their quote was $24k for all metal and labor to install.

Mike Ross told me to expect $20k minimum to do the car

With the metal that I already purchased, assuming that nothing else major comes up during disassembly (My frame rails are solid, I think I've posted some pictures previously of them--so in my opinion, there's a lot of metal on their quote that does not need replaced), I believe I'm looking at around another $10k for the remaining metal I need and all the labor to install.   

Honestly, their labor isn't that expensive.   But, that's because they aren't doing any major fabrication work.   Drill out factory spot welds, re-spot weld the new panel into it's place.   They did say that to save on labor, they will sacrifice braces and stuff that are perfectly ok, because it's faster and easier than trying to save the small brackets (like the inner fender to cowl brackets and stuff)

So, I got a question....why buy the sheet metal up front ? Wouldn't the best price come from the AMD Installation center themselves ? Wouldn't they be more then willing to supply it ?

Now, I have to wonder something.....with SO MUCH AMD sheet metal being out of stock, and on back order, that must really be screwing up the Installation Center's schedule ? How are they building these cars if the parts are not available ?

You said it yourself.  "With AMD out of stock..."  and "it has to impact scheduling"

I'm not going to sit around and wait for people to stop being scared of covid or for the government to stop handing out money for people to stay home; and finally decide to go back to work.    I started calling AMD distributors to see who had what in stock. 

The installation center wouldn't put me on their schedule until sheetmetal was in-hand.

Also, no. The metal is not cheaper through them.   It's either a totally different company or is at least managed as such.  They charge full MSRP on the metal.  Roseville sells it at a 10% discount. 

Quote from: Filthy Filbert on December 14, 2021, 12:32:46 PM
You said it yourself.  "With AMD out of stock..."  and "it has to impact scheduling"

I'm not going to sit around and wait for people to stop being scared of covid or for the government to stop handing out money for people to stay home; and finally decide to go back to work.    I started calling AMD distributors to see who had what in stock. 

The installation center wouldn't put me on their schedule until sheetmetal was in-hand.

Also, no. The metal is not cheaper through them.   It's either a totally different company or is at least managed as such.  They charge full MSRP on the metal.  Roseville sells it at a 10% discount.

That's interesting...I would have thought there would be a huge discount buying direct from them  :thumbdown:

Again, They're either not the same company, or they are managed as separate and independent companies.   Totally normal for different businesses of the same parent company to operate completely independent, which means business A buys parts from business B at "full retail price" even if it's the same parent company. 

Think about it.    If AMD can sell the part directly to you for $200, why would they sell it to themselves for less, to turn around and sell it to you for less? 

Anyway....I'm not concerned whether or not I got a discount on parts from AMD.

New car dealerships are run the same way, Body shop invoices the sales department full price for repairs. parts department charges service, body and sales list price as well.  :alan2cents:

Fabricated a set of dollies over the weekend.   Next step; removing suspension! 

How is it balancing there :rubeyes:

That's some Criss Angel stuff going on.  :clapping:

Quote from: anlauto on January 17, 2022, 01:56:41 PM
How is it balancing there :rubeyes:

Either he:

A) Took the photo during the Vernal Equinox
or
B) He is a graduate of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
or
C) There are actually four dolly caster wheels, and the two wheels on the side farthest from the camera are simply hidden due to camera angle.

so....B?

 :haha: :haha: :haha:


There's 4 casters.

The angle of the photo is deceiving. 

Slow and steady.   Suspension is off.  Bare shell is ready to transport to the installation center.   They said they can take the car in as soon as they have a few more pieces in inventory (as early as mid-March based on AMD's projected arrival dates).

Hopefully it goes sooner than later.  I was kinda bummed when they told me September back in early January

Don't know how I missed it but I just found this thread and read the whole thing.  Fascinating story.  Looking forward to following your progress.  Good luck.  :bigthumb:

Thanks!   AMD said they can take the car as soon as every piece that I might need comes into stock.  Some of what they were waiting on came into stock, but while waiting, other parts went out of stock, and the waiting begins again.    I'm not buying the parts that are in stock now "Just in case I need them" in order to get them before they go out of stock again...so we'll see how long this supply chain issue lasts.

a major hurdle is about to be cleared!

Loaded up last night, and Im hitting the road tonight straight from work for Georgia.  Headed to the AMD installation center for them to begin all the metal replacement on the unibody.

It was a bit nerve wracking driving to work this morning.  Had to adjust some of the packaging on the replacement panels that are strategically placed in the passenger area of the the car, and secured with tie down straps.  Also, every bump in the road has me worried that something will shift or fall off.  But, everything was secure when I got to work after 45 minutes on the freeway.

Gonna be a long day, won't get down to Georgia till probably 1 am tonight.  catch some sleep, drop it off in the morning, do the walk around and create the work order, then drive right back home.

Should have just got a U-Haul...  :haha: :haha: :haha:

After asking around my local buddies to locate an enclosed trailer to borrow or even to rent, The thought of renting a truck did cross my mind.   

Hope the move went well.

Any chance you have photo's showing how your dolly attaches at the rear?

I'm guessing he used the 4 bolt holes that mount the rear bumper brackets. That's what I would do.

Well the car got there in one piece.   The drive however was not exactly enjoyable.  not knowing the area, I followed GPS which had me mostly on state routes through northern Georgia. 

Seemed legit. 

I left after work Thursday and expected to bed down in Helen GA around midnight. 

At 1:45am, behind schedule due to construction traffic,  I'm entering the national forest with a Native American name that I can't pronounce and there's a road with a sign that says 'warning. Steep grades and sharp turns. Trucks use alternate route'

Well.  In the middle of nowhere, there's no cell signal so there isn't an option to seek an alternate route and since I'm not a commercial truck with a 53' trailer, I should be ok... right?

Well the road went up hill steeply for probably 8 miles with turns so sharp I couldn't ever get more than 25 mph.   So, very little air flow over the radiator and the torque converter never got into lock up.   I had to stop twice on the climb and just sit there because the truck overheated.  Both engine AND transmission.

Peak the hill finally at around 2:45 am.  Then I had 8 miles of steep downhill.  Great!  The engine and trans can finally cool off!

But I don't have an engine brake.  So... next up it was the brakes opportunity to overheat!   Had to stop mid way down to let them cool off because I started to feel brake fade. 

The whole time I'm within 10 miles of the hotel.    Finally got in and got to bed by 3:30 am

Took a nap and got to the installation center around 10 am.  Got unloaded, created our work order, and away I went. Took an alternate route more to the east instead of going straight to I-75 directly.


To answer the question on dolly attachment points, yes front and rear are using the bumper mount holes.    I need to change the dolly wheels though.   Kinda thought that 300 lb capacity per wheel was enough for the empty shell but I blew 1 tire out while loading and 1 tire out while unloading.   —I'll be getting solid wheels instead of pneumatics. 

Well, after waiting for my turn, I finally got a picture!

There was one or two cars ahead of me when I dropped mine off, so I had to wait a bit.   Yesterday I got a picture, my car is back from blast and primer after going through cut.   they remove all the panels that are known to be getting replaced and to allow access to the rest of the structure.  Then they media blast what's left.   ...which at this point, isn't much!

AT this point, do they stick to their quote, or up the price because of hidden issues now revealed ?

WOW!

Quote from: anlauto on July 12, 2022, 06:39:08 AM
AT this point, do they stick to their quote, or up the price because of hidden issues now revealed ?

They re-assess what's left as things that looked solid before blast, come back and suddenly look like swiss cheese.   I actually need to call them back as they left me a voice mail this afternoon.

That said, They're suggesting replacing a rocker panel due to a 'large dent'   Feels weird to me to replace an entire panel due to a dent, but seems like a stud welder and a couple of minutes would have it pulled out enough to skim coat with filler, but...I'm no body man (obviously)

What say you guys?  would you replace a rust free panel due to a dent?   (I need to look back at the estimate to see what the cost of the panel and labor is to replace the rocker)

Here's the pic they provided...

I think that's excessive, these guys are metal work guys, not body men....

I spoke with them today.   They just wanted me to know about the dents, and were offering to replace the rocker so that I had minimal body work to do later, and to make sure I was not upset when I pick up the car after they say they are done.  I'm sure they have customers who expect everything to be as perfect and straight as possible with minimal body work required.   I however, don't mind a little bit of body work to save original panels that don't have any rust.   

After further discussion, they will repair some frame rails where previous work has been done; just to clean it up a bit in appearance; instead of full frame rail replacement.   Again, they suggested a full frame rail replacement to be sure I was happy with the quality of the finished product.    I'm A-OK with structurally sound patch work that may not look 100% factory original since this won't ever be a numbers matching factory perfect restoration.     I'm going Gen 3 Hemi, 5-spd manual, big ole' brembo brakes and I plan to drive the piss out of it when it's finished.

In the end, the after blast assessment--My total cost has come down from original work order, which was lower than original rough estimate.

Quote from: Filthy Filbert on July 13, 2022, 12:48:43 PM

In the end, the after blast assessment--My total cost has come down from original work order, which was lower than original rough estimate.

Wow, that's great to hear...not too common :twothumbsup:

Cool story.
Same life, kid, overworked, quit, multiple house moves, etc...
The project cars will wait as long as necessary.
You are solidly on your way now though.

Owned mine since 83. Still not done.
Sold and still miss my R/T....

Edit: posting works now it seems.

Ok, resized photos...maybe that was my problem?

They say they'll be done this week.    Looks like I'll be scheduling a trip to northern Georgia soon!

Unibody is done and back home as of last week!   Here's a round of update pictures that The Installation Center took during the course of their work.

Seriously...what is wrong with this website??!?

I keep trying to post pictures, and when I hit submit, it goes to a blank white screen and stalls out.  hitting back or refresh just wipes it all out.   I've closed the window, reopened the window, switched browsers...    It's gotta be on the site's server.   

Little pet peeve of my own, but it drives me nuts when I see people blast and prime stuff without removing everything....I see in the last picture it still has some floor pugs in there... :pullinghair: ahhh craziness :haha:

They did a good job at removing everything, must have just missed those 2.   I got a box back with all the little bumpers and clips and stuff that they removed.  And since that panel ended up getting replaced anyway.... :dunno:


Sure wish I could post more pics....  I can seem to post text only no problem. :pullinghair:

test...

Lets try posting pictures again...


the rear underseat pan was found to be swiss cheese after blast and came out.   Passenger side front frame rail was discovered bent as well.  Originally I was ok with cleaning up the poorly patched section and keeping the rail but once it was discovered to be bent, off it came as well :bricks:

inner structure pics  -- floor pans, inner fenders, firewall/cowl etc.

Home stretch, external sheet metal going on.

And some pics I took after I got home

They patched in my original body stamping as well.   Even though a prior owner drilled right through the ones on the core support for a larger radiator

Before y'all ask, I asked them to leave the tunnel unfinished (console brackets, etc)   I'm going Gen 3 with a TKX transmission, so I'll handle the console brackets once I figure out what needs done to the tunnel to fit the trans.   That's what some of the pieces in the trunk are.. sections of original trans tunnel with the brackets still on them.

For the TKX you'll need just the factory 4 speed hump.

Car looks fantastic... :drooling:

Quote from: anlauto on August 22, 2022, 10:10:34 AM
For the TKX you'll need just the factory 4 speed hump.

Car looks fantastic... :drooling:

Thanks! it's definitely a breath of fresh air to be over the "body work hurdle"   --I know there's substantial amount of body work yet to go, but at least having all fresh exterior metal outside of the fenders, header panel, etc. then there should be minimal amount of block sanding required.


Now onto the drivetrain before I do final body.   

@anlauto (https://forum.e-bodies.org/mlist/anlauto_19)   Do you know what the best fitting mounts/headers are for a Gen 3 6.4 hemi and a TKX trans?    I assume if I go all Holley then there's no issues with fitment?   What about TTI?   TTI seems cheaper, marginally.   They offer ceramic coated, but not stainless headers?  Holley has stainless headers that are around the same price as TTI headers, but TTI offers just engine mounts for half price of the engine/trans kit that holley has.

Quote from: Filthy Filbert on August 23, 2022, 08:09:55 AM

  What about TTI?   TTI seems cheaper, marginally. 

I don't think I've ever seen this phrase before..."TTI seems cheaper"

Just went through the August pics. Amazing..down to a skeleton, then back to looking like a car again. For the average DIY'er that would have been at least a year..probably three.

Quote from: dodj on December 21, 2022, 05:13:11 AM

Quote from: Filthy Filbert on August 23, 2022, 08:09:55 AM

  What about TTI?   TTI seems cheaper, marginally. 

I don't think I've ever seen this phrase before..."TTI seems cheaper"

Ain't that the truth, thank you for my morning laugh  :haha: :haha:

Not much to update.   Pockets are empty after getting the car back from the installation center.   Also, Upon hearing the news of "Last Call" for the SRT-8 Gas powered cars in 2023, I asked Roseville about the crate motor program and what it's fate may be, and if the trucks are still going to get 6.4 hemis, whether or not the crate motor program would still be around.

They did not know, but told me they had 1 motor in stock, they were showing about 50 in inventory across the country, and they averaged a sale of 3 per month.  So, at that point I decided to buy now before it was too late!   The wife graciously allowed me to borrow money from the account that we use to manage our rental property with, with the understanding that my car funds of 2023 will be used to repay what I took out... and I bought the 1 6.4 Hemi that Roseville had in stock at the time. 

Now I'm slowly working on engine accessories.    With the help of DIYHemi and Mr Wright, I've found a solution to not have to cut the frame rail and not having to spend thousands of dollars on a custom accessory system from Holley.    I plan to make a small run of pulleys to make this a bolt on swap for people.

I'm thinking it will be a while before that lump fires up in between the frame rails. I THINK the warranty starts when you buy it. Be nice to get it running on a stand or something just to prove it out.

I'm not worried about the warranty.  I'm going to tear into the engine anyway which will likely void the warranty.   I plan to change the cam and intake. 

Great looking work on the body job!